The Late Show Transcript

David Letterman Interviewing Gillian Anderson

LETTERMAN: How are you?

ANDERSON: I can't see anybody out there.

LETTERMAN: What's the matter?

ANDERSON: I can't see them.

LETTERMAN: They're out there.

(Audience applauds)

LETTERMAN: We have to keep it that way. You look great.

ANDERSON: Thank you.

LETTERMAN: You know, it's always exciting when we have big, big stars on the show. People hang around the building, the theatre, and wait for the big stars.

ANDERSON: Yeah.

LETTERMAN: That must be... I guess that's exciting for you. But probably sometimes a little inconvenient, isn't it, to try and fight your way through these big crowds of folks?

ANDERSON: You know, it's not that inconvenient. What's funny is, you have those guys out there who show up everywhere, and show up outside hotels and stuff, and they -- and I usually say at the beginning that I will sign one thing for everybody, or as many people as I can.

LETTERMAN: Very generous of you.

ANDERSON: But then these people like, try and hide themselves, and they pull their jackets over, and they shove their heads down, as if I can't see them.

LETTERMAN: So they come through two or three times as different people?

ANDERSON: Yeah, they come through like two or three times as different people.

LETTERMAN: The last time I went outside the theatre and there was a big crowd, they were throwing rocks at me, so that...

(Audience laughs)

I just said, I said, "one more rock, and I'm not signing nothing for nobody."

(Audience laughs)

LETTERMAN: I had to draw the line somewhere. You see what I'm saying?

ANDERSON: That's a good line to draw.

LETTERMAN: How was your holiday?

ANDERSON: My holiday was great.

LETTERMAN: Yeah? What'd you do?

ANDERSON: What did I do? You know, we shot the show in Vancouver for five seasons.

LETTERMAN: Isn't Vancouver about the most delightful North American city? Isn't it just spectacular, and beautiful, and civilized, and lovely?

ANDERSON: Yes, it is.

(Audience laughs)

Are you being facetious?

LETTERMAN: Well, no, I'm not being facetious.

ANDERSON: Yeah, you were. Okay.

LETTERMAN: No, no, I love Vancouver. I used to go up there all the time.

ANDERSON: Yeah, no, it's absolutely beautiful.

LETTERMAN: Is Stanley Park still there?

ANDERSON: Stanley Park is beautiful. And actually, now that we're not there, I appreciate it a lot more.

LETTERMAN: Let me ask you a couple of questions about that.

ANDERSON: Okay, please do.

LETTERMAN: First of all, why did "the X-Files," -- why was it done in Vancouver to begin with? What was that all about?

ANDERSON: Well, to begin with, to save money, you know, because of the exchange for the dollar, and also because Vancouver can pass as many cities in the states as you want it to be.

LETTERMAN: It's very international.

ANDERSON: There are mountains and water and trees, and...

(Audience laughs)

LETTERMAN: Spectacular. A very cosmopolitan city.

ANDERSON: Very, very cosmopolitan.

LETTERMAN: They have an enormous Chinatown there, don't they?

ANDERSON: They do have an enormous Chinatown. It is a cosmopolitan city.

LETTERMAN: What's the matter?

ANDERSON: It's a great city, Dave.

LETTERMAN: I loved it. I just... I loved it. Okay, so then...

(Gillian laughs)

LETTERMAN: David... David...

ANDERSON: Yes?

LETTERMAN: ...gets homesick for Los Angeles, and I think we can all understand that.

(Laughter as he gives a sarcastic, meaningful look to the audience)

ANDERSON: Well, you know, Dave, he got married. You know?

LETTERMAN: Right, right.

ANDERSON: Yeah, he got married, and he had a wife that he loved very much.

LETTERMAN: But the wife doesn't travel?

ANDERSON: The wife was actually working at the time on a series.

LETTERMAN: I better be careful. I don't know what I'm talking about.

ANDERSON: You go from humiliating a man with a "t" on his chest to making fun of my co-star.

LETTERMAN: I meant no offence about that, and I think he understands that I meant no offence.

(Audience laughs)

So then, on the whim of difficult star David Duchovny, the show is yanked out of Vancouver.

ANDERSON: Well, you know, we had done five seasons up there, and we had both been shooting away from what we consider to be home, and...

LETTERMAN: Yeah. It's tough. It's like being in the marines or something.

(Laughter)

ANDERSON: You know, it was a long time, and I think... And I understand.

LETTERMAN: Well, it is. I mean, it's hard. Marines in the audience.

(Audience applauds)

ANDERSON: Is there a point to all these questions, Dave?

LETTERMAN: Yeah. It's my own curiosity, because I've known you for a long time, I've known David for a long time, and I never just quite understand, because of my love for Vancouver, what the situation was there.

ANDERSON: Well, you know what? Honestly, Dave, probably when you have decided to go to Vancouver, you have either gone up to... Do you ski?

LETTERMAN: Oh, know, I don't ski.

ANDERSON: No? Okay, well, you've probably gone in the summertime, because that's a good time to go. But also, you know, Vancouver can be very rainy, which is very beautiful, but when you're shooting 16-hour days and you're standing in the rain and in the snow at 3:00 in the morning, in the middle of the woods, chasing down a monster made of who knows what, it's just, you know... It just... You know, it wears on you after a while. But I also think that, since you are driving this point home, I'll drive it home even more-- that, you know, I think at the beginning, David had an agreement with our executive producer that if we were ever to go five years, that at that point, we would move back to Los Angeles.

LETTERMAN: Well, apparently, I've hit a nerve here, and I'm sorry. I just...(laughter)

ANDERSON: No, no, no, no. No, no, no, no. Hang on a second. I mean, we come out... I mean, how many times have I been sitting here, and how many... I mean, we've got things to talk about, Dave.

LETTERMAN: Seems like you just got here. I know.

ANDERSON: There's so much more than...

LETTERMAN: Yeah, and so much more.

(Audience laughs)

And I'm just kidding. And of course, I understand why we'd rather be at home then 1,200 miles away in Vancouver.

ANDERSON: But it's actually a beautiful city.

LETTERMAN: Well, you still have a home there, don't you?

ANDERSON: And I still have a home up there.

LETTERMAN: Now, you spent the holidays up there. That's what I was trying to get to.

ANDERSON: Is that what you were trying to get?

(Audience laughs)

Yes, I did. I spent the holidays at my home in Vancouver, and my family...

LETTERMAN: So you still love Vancouver?

ANDERSON: I do. In fact, I'm...

(Audience laughs)

Almost as much as you, apparently.

(Audience laughs)

LETTERMAN: I do. You have your -- your mom lives there?

ANDERSON: Actually, no. But my family comes and visits and stays with me there on Christmas, because...

LETTERMAN: That's great.

ANDERSON: Yeah, it is great. But this year, you know, actually, there was... I can't.

LETTERMAN: Come on. No, no, no. It's fine.

(Audience laughs)

ANDERSON: How can I talk about anything now? There's nothing to talk about.

LETTERMAN: It's fine, it's fine.

ANDERSON: Okay.

LETTERMAN: All right, let's just... Let's come back to this. We'll go to another topic.

ANDERSON: Okay, all right.

LETTERMAN: Are you concerned about the end of the Millennium?

(Audience laughs)

ANDERSON: Actually, you know what? I actually have been doing a lot of research on Y2K. I have indeed. Did you... Do have a specific question? Am I interrupting?

LETTERMAN: I have many.

(Audience laughs)

Well, it's my show. I've got to talk occasionally.

ANDERSON: Okay.

LETTERMAN: No, this is how dumb I am. I didn't know anything about the Y2K till a couple of months ago, and I'm thinking, I'm thinking, well, certainly people must have been working on this since like the 1940's, and it turns out nobody's been working on it at all.

ANDERSON: Well, no, I think in a way that they have been. But the problem was that they had a specific language for computers way back then, and when that language was invented, they had no idea that the computer was going to take off. And so, every other language that has been built up on top of that and on top of that, and it's about getting back to that initial language.

LETTERMAN: Now, when you hear people talk about what might go wrong, they can paint a very dire picture.

ANDERSON: Oh, absolutely.

LETTERMAN: Give us an example of how bad things might be. This is a conjecture, it's conjecture, but it might be.

ANDERSON: Well, you know, there's a possibility that there could be a huge food shortage in stores, that...

LETTERMAN: Born of what? Why is there... What is the computer thing have to do with food shortage?

ANDERSON: Well, because in terms of, like... In terms of getting the food in the trucks to go to all the different cities around, and if the computers aren't working to regulate that system, then...

LETTERMAN: Everything breaks down.

ANDERSON: Then everything kind of breaks down.

LETTERMAN: So dependent have we become on the computer.

ANDERSON: Oh, absolutely-- which is so ironic, because I think what this is about right now is, this is an opportunity for us to get back to basics in a sense, and for us to unite as communities to help each other, so that eventually, if there is a devastating effect, that at least we can join together with the people around us, instead of, you know, acting out of fear and robbing our neighbors for food, or for money, or whatever, because there's nothing around. And the ironic thing is that... Why are you guys laughing?

(Audience laughs)

ANDERSON: Because I'm so serious?

LETTERMAN: You've got them... They're worried.

ANDERSON: Let me finish making my point.

LETTERMAN: People are scared now. You've frightened us again.

ANDERSON: Okay, I'm sorry. But the ironic thing is that, it is... Will you just let me say this, please?

LETTERMAN: Let her... Come on now!

(Audience cheers and applauds)

Let her speak her piece.

ANDERSON: Is that it is technology and computers that have separated us and moved us more apart. It is. You know, there's e-mail. You don't talk to anybody anymore. Everybody e-mails each other.

LETTERMAN: Sure.

ANDERSON: And it's the computers that are going to force us back together again.

LETTERMAN: Invoke some humanity.

ANDERSON: Thank you.

(Audience applauds)

LETTERMAN: Let's talk about the... Let's talk about the new movie, "playing by heart."

ANDERSON: Yes.

LETTERMAN: In fact, do you want to show a clip? Let's do that. Do you want to do that?

ANDERSON: I would love to do that.

(Audience laughs)

LETTERMAN: Okay, do you know what the... Do you know what the clip is?

ANDERSON: The clip is in a restaurant, and Jon Stewart and myself have a date for the first time.

LETTERMAN: And Sean Connery also in the film-- not necessarily in the clip, but also in the film.

ANDERSON: That's correct, and also Ellen Burstyn, and Gena Rowlands, and a great many other people.

LETTERMAN: Fine cast. It opens January 22, I believe, was the date. Is that right?

ANDERSON: Yes, it does.

LETTERMAN: And here it is, "Playing by Heart." Gillian Anderson, ladies and gentlemen. Enjoy this.

(Audience applauds)
(CLIP START)
(SCENE IS AT A RESTAURANT TABLE)

JON STEWART; You're charming.

(GILLIAN, with brown hair, is LAUGHING NERVOUSLY)

JON STEWART: And real. And lovely. What did I say?

GILLIAN ANDERSON: No, no, nothing. I just... Before I came here tonight, I was discussing you with my sister. We were coming up with a psychological profile-- several, actually.

GILLIAN ANDERSON: Oh, none. I think I'm going to have to revise the filing system, put you in the "too good to be true" category.

(CLIP ENDS)
(Audience applauds)

LETTERMAN: There you go. Then the fun begins. "Playing by Heart," January 22, Gillian Anderson. Nice to see you again.

ANDERSON: Good to see you.

LETTERMAN: Thank you very much. Come back again, and we'll talk some more about this, and we'll get it figured out, all right, the Y2K problem?

ANDERSON: Okay, you got it.

LETTERMAN: Happy New Year. Thank you, Gillian.

ANDERSON: Happy New Year.

LETTERMAN: Good luck with the film.

ANDERSON: Thank you.

THE END

Late Show With David Letterman Webpage>

Gillian Anderson
The Late Show

January 11th 1999

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